The present invention relates to a method for recording a received message in a facsimile apparatus, and more particularly, to a method for receiving image data and recording it on separate sheets of paper.
A facsimile apparatus of a transmitting side scans a still picture and converts the scanned still picture into an electrical image signal to then transmit it, while the facsimile apparatus of a receiving side records the received image signal by way of being synchronized with a transmitting side. Accordingly, the still picture is regenerated in the facsimile apparatus of the receiving side.
First, referring to FIG. 1, a general facsimile apparatus will be described below. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a general facsimile apparatus, which comprises a communication processor 101, a modulator and demodulator (MODEM) 102, a coder and decoder (CODEC) 103, a picture memory 104, a controller 105, a recorder 106 and a pick-up device 107.
In FIG. 1, communication processor 101 performs a necessary protocol when a communication path is set to receive and transmit data (hereinafter called "picture data"). Modem 102 modulates and demodulates the picture data transmitted and received during communication. Using a predetermined compression algorithm, codec 103 codes the picture data prior to transmitting, and decodes the received picture data using the decompression algorithm in correspondence to the compression algorithm. Recorder 106 is ordinarily called a printer which records the received picture data on a sheet of paper or other medium. Pick-up device 107 is ordinarily called a scanner, which picks up alphanumeric characters and/or images printed on a sheet of paper or the other media and converts the picked-up impression into electrical signals. Controller 105 which comprises a central processing unit (CPU), a non-volatile memory (ROM) and a random access memory (RAM) is connected to the respective blocks of the facsimile apparatus to perform various control operations. Here, the ROM is a memory in which software programs and various data processed in the CPU are stored, and the RAM is a memory used as the working region of the CPU.
Recorder 106 in the facsimile apparatus having the above-mentioned construction may use a continuous roll of paper or separate sheets of paper when the received picture data is recorded.
When using the rolled paper, although the received picture data is not lost, the output paper tends to curl when the paper gets out of the exit. Thus, to eradicate the above-mentioned phenomenon, a special apparatus should be additionally provided. Also, cutting the roll of paper and filing the curled sheets are very cumbersome, and so the prevalence of facsimile apparatuses which use separate sheets of paper has gradually increased. However, in order to record the received picture data on separate sheets, various control operations (not needed when employing rolled paper) are necessary to avoid picture data loss.
Here, three conventional facsimile recording methods using separate sheets of paper will be briefly described.
In a first method, a leading end margin exists only on the first page of the received facsimile message, and does not reoccur or subsequent sheets. According to this method, if the end of one sheet is recognized, a form feeding operation (to feed a new sheet of paper for recording) is performed to record subsequent lines of the picture data on the next sheet. Accordingly, the picture data which is recorded in a beginning or ending portion of the sheet of paper is apt to be lost. Otherwise, picture data with respect to characters which should be recorded on the same sheet of paper is apt to be separately recorded on two sheets.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,324 discloses an apparatus to solve the problem of the above recording method. Here, a leading end margin and a trailing end margin are set for each sheet of paper, wherein a single character may comprise l print lines which are handled as a single block in recording, ensuring that individual blocks are recorded on the same sheet of paper. However, when the picture data is transmitted, since the actual location where the top of a character begins to appear is irregular, and character size may vary for every given sheet of paper, certain problems persist in the implementation of this second method.
In a third method, the picture data recorded near the trailing end portion of the sheet of paper, is re-recorded on the leading end portion of the next sheet of paper. For picture data being thus recorded, although loss of data can be prevented, the output has a poor appearance which is apt to result in confusion.